Compare the 10 Best Blenders - August 2017

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Every week we analyse the technical specs, reviews and prices of every blender on the market in the US to determine our top 10 list. In total we compared over 1,020 blenders, 2,650 reviews and 3,140 prices. Last updated 15 August 2017.

Blender Buying Guide

Blenders are kitchen appliances which use high-speed rotating blades to cut and puree foods into liquids. They can be used in both food prep (i.e - reducing tomatoes to a puree for sauce) or for making smoothies and juices from fruits and vegetables.

There are two main types of blenders on the market - handheld/immersion and tabletop:

Handheld/immersion blenders: these appliances consist of a ‘wand’ with blades on one end, which is held and lowered directly into the food to be blended (hence the name 'immersion blender', since they are immersed in the food). Because they don’t have a bowl, they are far smaller and easier to store, and are usually cheaper. However, because they are lowered directly into the ingredients, they lack the splash guards of tabletop blenders. Therefore greater care has to be taken when using them, so you don’t end up covering your kitchen in tomato sauce! Because they are smaller and lack several safety features (such as guards) they tend to be less powerful than tabletop models.

Tabletop blenders: unlike handheld models, tabletop blenders have their own separate bowl into which the ingredients are poured and blended. They have a splash guard that is placed over the top to prevent accidents and stop liquid being fired everywhere. These models of blenders tend to be more powerful and capable of reducing harder ingredients to liquid, but come at a cost: tabletop blenders take up more room than their handheld brethren, and are often more expensive. They also generate more cleaning, since the bowl and the blades will have to be cleaned every time its used.

Capacity

This attribute only applies to tabletop blenders, but is an important consideration - the bowl capacity will determine how much food/liquid can be blended at one time. Blended capacities vary considerably - some models have large bowls/jugs that can hold several litres of liquid at a time, while others can only hold a single serving of liquid - enough for a single smoothie or juice, but impractical for larger kitchen use. Which brings us to...

Juicers/Smoothie Makers/Nutribullets

Juicers, smoothie makers and Nutribullets are a special subset of blenders that specialise in blending fruit and veg into single-serving liquids. They are extremely good for this purpose, often coming bundled with a special cup to make transferring/transporting the smoothies as easy as possible. Some even use the cup itself as the blending jug, blending the ingredients directly into the cup for efficiency.

While they excel in this specific function, customers should be wary of buying them for larger kitchen use - because of their single-serving capacity, they wouldn’t be efficient when cooking for families, and you may end up having to blend ingredients in batches. Moreover, because the are generally made to blend soft fruit and veg, the power level and blades are not as powerful as less specialised models. This means that using a smoothie maker for general kitchen use may end up breaking the blades or overtaxing the motor, leading to a broken appliance.

Lastly, because these appliances (especially Nutribullets) are aimed at the healthy eating and exercise crowd, they tend to be more expensive than standard blenders, even though they may have a smaller capacity or fewer features. So when choosing a blender, think carefully what you’re going to use it for, and maybe look towards a standard kitchen blender if you intend to make anything apart from smoothies and juices.

Power Level

All our blenders have a power rating, measured in Watts (W). The higher the power level, the more efficient the appliances will be at blending. This in turn leads to smoother liquids, fewer chunks, and better results!

Many of the models on our site also have multiple speed settings. Often this can little more than low or high, but is crucial for getting the best results from harder ingredients, or crushing ice to make cocktails and frozen smoothies.

Easy-to-Clean

Finally, given that blending is inherently a rather messy business, you will have to clean your blender after every use. Therefore it may be helpful to check that your chosen model is marked as easy-to-clean, meaning that it has been designed for stress-free cleaning. Some models are even safe to put in the dishwasher, making them extremely easy to clean and take care of.

Blender Retailers, Prices and Features

Blender Prices

The price range of blenders is from $17 to $850 and in total we found prices for 84 blenders. On average, a new blender costs $185 and 80% of blenders are priced between $35 and $410. The Blendtec Connoisseur 825 is the most expensive blender that we found at $850, and the Black & Decker BL2010BPA is the cheapest at only $17.

Blender Brands - Price Range

Unold blenders range in price from $499 to $499, and the highest average blender price out of all brands is Unold blenders with an average price of $499.

Blendtec blenders range in price from $195 to $850, and the average price of Blendtec blenders is $433 which is the second highest average price of all blender brands.

The %8highest average blender price out of all brands is JTC blenders with an average price of $400. JTC blenders start at $400 and the most expensive JTC blender costs $400.

Blender Brands - Average Ratings

We have analysed 55 expert reviews and 2,177 user reviews for blenders available online and used this data to evaluate the average rating for each brand of blender. The top three blender brands are KitchenAid, Vitamix and Magimix. KitchenAid has an average rating of 93%, Vitamix has an average rating of 93% and Magimix has an average rating of 92%.

Biggest Blender Retailers

We found 81 current offers for blenders from eBay making it the biggest blender retailer. That is much bigger than the second biggest retailer, Amazon US for whom we found 43 current offers for blenders. The third biggest retailer is Walmart with 24 current blender offers.

When Are Most New Blenders Released?

We couldn't see any evident trend in the release dates for new blenders over the last 3 years. 57 new blenders were released in September 2016 making it the biggest month that year for new blender releases. In January 2015 55 new blenders were released making it the biggest month that year for new blender releases. September was the biggest month in 2014 for new blenders, with 129 new blenders released that month.

How Fast Do Blender Prices Drop After Release?

In the first 6 months after release, blenders drop in price by 6% on average. If you are prepared to wait then you could save an average of $12 on a typical $185 new blender by waiting 6 months before buying.

Powers

This represents the power level of the blender, measured in watts.

Across the range of blenders, the powers range from 100W to 2,609W. The powers of the majority of blenders range from 600W to 770W. The blender with the biggest power is the CuisinartCBT-2000, which is a 2,609W blender and can be purchased for $265.00. The CuisinartCBT-2000 has the smallest power. This blender is a 100W blender and is available at $72.99.

A larger power level means that the motor in the blender is more powerful, leading to faster and more efficient mixing.

Bowl Capacities

This denotes the capacity of the main bowl of the blender, measured in litres (L).

The bowl capacities of blenders range from 0.12L to 6.7L. The bowl capacities of most blenders range from 0.51L to 0.72L. The BlendtecDesigner 675, which sells for $369.00, has the biggest bowl capacity and is a 2.6L bowl capacity blender. The BlendtecDesigner 675 has the smallest bowl capacity. This blender is a 0.5L bowl capacity blender and is available at $128.93.

A larger capacity bowl fitted to your blender means that a larger amount of ingredients can be processed and mixed at once, meaning the appliance is more efficient and can be used for larger cookery tasks.

Types

We found 269 blenders that are tabletop blenders, which makes this the most common type amongst new blenders. We found 170 blenders that are immersion blenders, making immersion the second most common type amongst new blenders.

Colours

We found 192 blenders that are blenders that have a Black coloured, which makes this the most frequently found colour amongst new blenders. We found 155 blenders that are blenders that have a White coloured, making this the second most frequently found colour amongst new blenders.

Biggest Blender Retailers

The biggest blender retailer by number of products currently for sale is eBay. We found 81 current blender offers from eBay. The second biggest blender retailer is Amazon US with 43 offers. That means eBay is much bigger than Amazon US when it comes to blenders. Walmart is the third biggest retailer with 24 current offers.

Which Are the Cheapest Retailers for Blenders?

With the cheapest price on 71 blenders, eBay is most frequently the cheapest blender store.

Proportion of Blenders for Which Each Retailer is Cheapest?

With the cheapest price on 87.7% of its blenders, eBay is most frequently the cheapest blender store.